In a machine tool such as a lathe, since chips are generated in accordance with processing, a chip conveyor for discharging the chips from the processing section to outside of the machine tool is provided. In the chip conveyor, a chip receiver and a storage tank are disposed under the processing section where chips and cutting liquid fall and an endless hinge belt which inclines and extends upward from the tank is configured to circularly move. Therefore, chips falling from the chip receiver into the storage tank are discharged by the chip conveyor being periodically driven. At that time, the chips are conveyed while rising from the storage tank through a climbing portion, fall from a rising portion to a collection box and are collected. Among such chip conveyors, scraping plates are provided at predetermined intervals with respect to the hinge belt so that chips can be efficiently conveyed.
The chip conveyor of the machine tool has a problem of discharging the cutting liquid attached to the chips together with the chips to the collection box. In other words, the cutting liquid, which is supposed to be filtered and used repeatedly, is discharged as the chip is collected and thus the amount of the cutting liquid gradually decreases. This problem particularly noticeable on a chip conveyor having the scraping plate. Therefore, in the following PTL 1, there is provided a configuration in which chip collection is performed via a horizontal section provided at an upper end portion, and cutting liquid falls from an interval of the hinge plate so as to be collected through a gutter. In addition, in the following PTL 2, a shooter including a perforated plate and a barrier board is provided in addition to the chip conveyor, and a gutter for collecting the cutting liquid falling through holes of the perforated plate is provided.